AFTA wrap up

Gan Craft Display and Gosen

Before heading up to AFTA I had all these grand plans to go and visit every one and browse upon all the new toys on hand, that almost happened but we got so busy on the stand at times it got hard to get away.

I arrived on Saturday night at Coolangatta airport and had a small wait for the rest of the team to arrive, so I moved outside to enjoy the nice contrast in weather, when I left Melbourne we had high winds and sideways rain  with a top temp of bout 12 degree's, the Gold Coast was experiencing a wonderful 19 degrees no wind and sunshine. Once we had all got on the ground a cab to the accommodation was organized.  In previous years I had always stayed in resorts that were limited to a one bedroom kind of set up and very quiet and boring, this year Stephen from Gladiator had arranged a 6 bedroom house on the water, I was not too sure what to expect but upon arrival I was amazed at the size and age of the place, it was a very modern and very flash place with a massive kitchen, pool and pontoon to fish from. I was wrapped with the set up.

New Australian Colors

I had not yet met every one so this gave us all a chance to catch up, I already knew Steve, Marg and Niel but I had also met Lee (Vic Sales), Chris (North NSW Sales) and Anthony Thorpe who was a central coast Bream guru and pro staffer for Bait Breath and Tackle House. All very different people but we all seemed to gel and get along just fine.

The Stand

The next morning we all made our way to the Gold Coast convention center to set up the stand, this was the first year in 4 years that Gladiator had made an appearance at the show so it would be interesting to see how things panned out. All working together we got everything sorted out and set up with plenty of smoko's in between. This meant that we could now head back to the house and get a bit of fishing in.

Ocean Master

Show day had arrived and every one was pumped to get going. things started off a little slow but soon took off and we maintained a very busy stand all through out the show, I was able to catch up with a few friends from Japan and from the many parts of Australia I had visited talking squid, I had a few quick trips around the show for a quick browse but did not have the time to have a real good look at some shiny new toys.

The next few days flew past, Tuesday I managed to get out and catch up with a few folks at the casino which is a normal event at the show.

Anthony and Chris

I did not work out how successful the show was for Gan Craft as I was not taking orders, I left that part to the sale folks, but I am sure that more retailers are aware of the product and brand than ever before, was a great show for me and was great to catch up with everyone.

Was a quick flight home, I slept all the way from the moment I sat down to the moment we landed.













Random pics:

Gosen Aorika Fire Braid

Violence Jerk

Aussie colors

Gladiator Mutants

Kozami surface lues

Kozami

Gladiator lures

JF Labs

Mutant

Mutant

IMA

ima

Bait Breath

various Gladiator

various Gladiator

Smash Baits

Smash Baits

Mepps

Little Jacks

Tackle House

Tackle House

Good Gosen

Gan Craft

Gan Craft

Keeping busy

More busyness

Anthony and Kosta hooked interview

Kosta and me interview for hooked magazine

Young Mok and me

Hayato Yamauchi

More with Hooked Up Magazine

Big week ahead with AFTA

Every year the Australian Fishing Tackle Association holds a trade show giving the opportunity for wholesalers and distributors to show their wares to the retail stores and to launch new products for Australia. I have been to the last three (3) and have enjoyed them equally. This year is a whole new kettle of fish for me though as I am going as a Gan Craft Pro Staff to represent Gan Craft on the Australian distributors stand, Gladiator Tackle.

As much as I am not looking forward to the hours upon hours of standing on my feet I can never say that talking tackle has ever been a chore and I am genuinely looking forward to spending some time yakking with the many folks I have met around the country conducting seminars as far away as Perth and other states but also the local ones here4 in my home town Melbourne.

Last year all the big boys playing with the toys at AFTA

So my bags are packed and I am off to the airport again to head to the sunny (I hope) Gold Coast for a few days of talking tackle and playing with all the big boys toys that will be on display.

Western Port weekend.

Finally a break in the weather during a miserable Melbourne winter, I have been busting to get out for another egi bash in Western Port.

I made the decision to head out fairly late in the afternoon on the previous day so I had not organized a fishing partner for the day, my regulars were all off doing other things or already planned fishing. I have recently joined a facebook group about Melbourne Squid reports and there are heaps of keen people who have asked about going out in the boat so I put a quick post up offering a seat on the boat out in the Port. I checked back in on the post a short time later, Matt was the first to put his hand up from the responses so I contacted Matt and orginised to meet at the Hastings boat ramp at 0800 the next morning.

I was feeling pretty orginised, however, some one forgot to change their alarms on their iphone and it was not Matt, DOH. I rang Matt to let him know I was running about half an hour late.

I arrived at Hastings right on 0830 to find Matt waiting in the car park ready to hit the water, was not long after that we were on the water. Now when I say we had a break in the weather conditions were not perfect. From the launch location at Hasting things were lovely and calm, there was a slight breeze from the south which gave me some reason for concern as the tide was just starting to head out to the south which means as soon as I stick the boats nose out from behind Sandy Point things would be very different and very different it was. We had a few moments of airtime making our way south down the Port, it was like a washing machine in some places. I moved out of the deeper tidal water and made my way into the smoother shallow water for the journey south.

We arrived in our spot where I found Clint and Paul from the Bass Straight Game Fishing Club also trying their luck, from all accounts things were a bit tough, I could have run but the water was the clearest I had seen since launching so I just had to have a few casts.

It took about 5 minutes and I found my first squid, it was only about 15cm in the hood size and caught on a 3.5 sized jig. Not deterred I punched another few casts out and before long we had one of around the 1kg mark in the boat. Still not a big squid but better than the first.

We spent another hour in this area before I gave up, Clint and Paul had already made the move about half an hour before us. The tide turn was due so I though about a little place about half way up the port that would clear up for a while until the tide started to roar.

We arrive to again find Clint and Paul giving the squid a try but they were again struggling and were preparing another move, again I stuck it out for a while. This ended up being our spot of the day landing 6 out the 8 squid for the day in the area. It was pretty tough condition wise and Matt managed his first for the trip in this spot. We did manage one a bit over a kilo from here also.

I made one more move near Stoney Point and found the water was coffee colored and full of weed so it was decided that we make our move back to the ramp and call it quits.

Was great to have Matt aboard, always enjoy having new people on the boat, keeps things interesting and means you are always meeting new people with the common interest being fishing.

I had done a radio interview 2 days before, the last question I was asked was if I was to go squidding on the weekend what color would I use, I said that I would use a Gan Craft size 3.5 in Pink Head Shrimp and in every photo is that very same lure.

Last week on Western Port

After returning from Japan I was itching to get the boat wet and see if the big squid had made their way in yet.

I managed to knock off wok a little earlier than normal so a quick call to my mate Dan and we were off to Western Port to do some exploring around for some of the big squid that we would normally find coming into the bays at this time of the year. We Launched from Hastings and made the mad rush down to the southern end of the port to an area that showed some promise at the same time last year. We made it down though some ordinary weather and started casting.

Things were pretty tough going with only a few small squid around to entice, then a color change to Olive real shrimp to turn things around a little, a couple of casts and a hd a bit of line peeling, now it was no giant but it was definitely better than the smaller ones we had been getting, I though our luck had turned but the squid just did not want to play.

A few more changes in color and heaps of casts in between before we found another half decent model was on board. We plugged away for ages for not much and light was disappearing fast so a quick pack up and we were on our way in the dark back to Hastings.

Not sure what is happening with the squid this year, perhaps the record rain fall has something to do with it or perhaps they just aint ready to visit us yet. Persistence over the next few weeks with the hope of better things to come.

Day 8 Japan Trip

Today came with some sadness as I found myself packing my bags in the hotel room realizing the fairy tale was over and it was back to Melbourne to drive trucks again.

This was my last day in Japan, I managed a sleep in as we had not made any big plans other than a trip to a couple more tackle stores to stock up on some more gear and a visit to the the "Ring of Fire" Osaka Aquarium. Myself and Geki were again picked up by Kotaro and we made our way to the office to get some formalities out of the way and to say goodbye to a few people, then a couple of hours north to Osaka.

We arrived at the Aquarium that has a massive shopping centre attatched so we did a bit of window shopping, it was about 1200 so it was decided that a curry lunch was in order, Japanese style curry was nice, not too mild and not to hot and to make it better it had a piece of deep fried tonkatsu pork on top.

It was at this stage that I realised that after the late night previous I had forgotten to charge my camera battery as I passed out on top of the bed watching some weird game show on TV. I had one bar left on the display so I was very conservative with the camera saving it all for the aquarium.

We finished up the feed and made our way into the aquarium, much bigger than the one we have at home in Melbourne, and the squid display had me dumb founded especially when I was able to observe squid spawning in captivity something that has not been well documented in the past. Up close and personal with a Whale Shark, GT's and all sorts was great.

Like all good things the aquarium had come to an end and we had a few hours to kill before my plane was due to leave so we made our way to an outlet store like DFO but bigger, was a laugh for me as no matter what store we went into nothing would fit me, even a belt was not available in my size. Was a good joke at every store we went to.

Time to fly and with my camera well and truly flat we made our way to Kansai International Airport, first of all I checked in and dropped my bags off, the Geki did the same, still with some time to go some last minute souvenir shopping then a farewell to Geki Chan who boarded his domestic flight. I had one last coffee with Kotaro and then it was good bye to this wonderful place.

11 hours later I was in the Gold Coast and then another 4 hours later I was back in Melbourne in the arms of my wonderful patient wife.

 What a massive trip, in case I have not made it clear the good folks in Japan treated me like a king during my stay, thanks is far too small gesture for the efforts and kindness shown to me by every one. I have never met a more respectful and giving group of people. I am going back in February for the Osaka International Tackle Show and am counting down the days. I am going to miss a lot about the people and experiences I had in Japan but I am also glad to be home.

So a massive thanks goes out to the good people who cared for me during my stay in Japan, I can not explain the distance that people went for me, forever grateful and forever in dept for this experience

Day 7 Japan trip.

Day 7 I was fortunate enough to find myself in town for the Tanabe Festival, you will have to forgive me for not knowing the whole story about the festival but it has something to do with local religion and getting rid of bad spirits. There was so much color and noise it was amazing to be there for. Lucky for me I had a couple of personal tour guides for the day with Kotaro and Mr. Hiraiwa.

We first walked to a part of town that I think locals would rarely see westerners, Tanabe is a small fishing town unlike the Tokyo's and the Osaka's so seeing westerners in town is one thing but to be walking down back streets and small housing estates is another, from whispers it seemed as though most thought I was an American. I dare say that many would not have met a westerner full stop let alone an Australian.

We positioned ourselves in a place where we could clearly see the precession of people and man drawn carriages that were converted to shrines, bearing in mind that the temperature was in excess of 30 degrees Celsius these people were really busting their arses dragging these monstrous timber structures up and down the streets and you could see the sweat pouring off them as they made their way through the streets.

After watching the shrines make there way to the main temple in town we had a few hours spare until the festival kicks off in full speed so we made our way to the Gan Craft Factory a small trip out of town. A lot of folks ask me to justify the price of some products in the fishing game and after making a visit to the factory my reasons are more than justified. We already know that they work better than a cheaper alternative and that they last a lot longer, we also know that the attention to detail by the original designer of most high end products to ensure that they look better than a cheaper alternative. After seeing the factory the quality point is what sticks in my mind the most now Every Gan Craft lure in the factory is hand painted, they are assembled by hand and then packaged by hand, every point of hand contact with the product is another point of quality control. Some companies label their products as made in Japan, sadly most of them are not as only a small amount of original product actually comes from Japan, now having been in the place where they were making them I can say for a fact that they are made in Japan as I was there watching them being made.

After the factory tour and as part of the festival theme we then made our way to a temple very close the the office of Gan Craft, this place was built about 400 years ago and still stands today, a truly spectacular place to visit. I will not try and explain my visit to you as it will not justify what I saw, however the images down the page will give it a better wrap than I ever could.

For lunch we had Ramen (I think) how good id this stuff, it's a bit like a noodle soup but better, most people do not finish the entire soup portion of the meal but I could not help myself it was amazing, then to top things off a plate of Gyoza. Nothing beats Gyoza.

We had some down time so we made our way back to the office to relax a bit before dinner and the festival goes into full swing and a rest I needed, things had been so full on that it was nice to kick back a bit and just watch the time go and watch Mr Hiraiwa work on some new lures he is designing, that in itself is worth the entire trip, being able to sit in company with a lure designing guru play with new ideas and designs is priceless. It was getting close to dinner time and the festival peak was getting near so it was back to the hotel for a scrub up and then out to dinner.

Like always I was spoiled rotten at dinner, steak, gyoza, whale tonkatsu and all sorts, just as we were half way through the festival precession was just about to run past the restaurant so we all headed outside for a look. I thought it was pretty amazing during the day but the dark of night made this thing all the more spectacular. Before heading back inside it was decided that I go for a walk down the road to have a look what was happening in the festival area. Talk about a smack in the face with some local culture. A beautiful sight and a lasting memory. Enjoy the pics.